Molecular and Cellular Genetics of Alcohol Addiction (PDF)
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99 MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR GENETICS OF ALCOHOL ADDICTION MARY-ANNE ENOCH DAVID GOLDMAN Worldwide, in societies where moderate alcohol consump- shared among different individuals within the family. Nu- tion is accepted as a pleasurable pastime and even an en- merous studies have shown that alcoholism is familial. In hancer of health and well-being, it has historically been ob- the National Comorbidity Survey of 5,877 individuals, it served that a sizable minority is unable to keep within safe was found that alcohol use disorders aggregate significantly limits of consumption. Such individuals may abuse alcohol in families with an odds ratio of 1.93 (4). To have an alco- or become dependent. Alcoholism is today among the most holic parent is a significant risk factor for the development pervasive psychiatric disorders. In the United States, the of the disease; children of alcoholics are five times more lifetime prevalence of alcohol dependence, the severe form likely to develop alcohol-related problems than children of of alcoholism, is 8% to 14% (1). The ratio of alcohol depen- nonalcoholics (5). It has been shown that the transmission dence to abuse is 1.5:1. Individuals often maintain a pattern of the vulnerability to alcoholism from parents to their of alcohol abuse without dependence for many years (2). daughters is due largely or entirely to genetic factors (6). Serious drinking frequently begins in adolescence, and ap- Studies of heritability, a measure of the genetic compo- proximately 40% of alcoholics develop their first symptoms nent of variance in interindividual vulnerability, indicate of addiction between the ages of 15 and 19 years (3). As that genetic influences are substantially responsible for the discussed in this chapter, heritability studies suggest that an observed patterns of familiality. Adoption studies have individual’s genotype confers a particular level of vulnerabil- shown that alcoholism in biological parents predicts alco- ity, or risk. Comparative studies across populations suggest holism in children even when the child is reared by unre- that sociocultural factors determine differences in thresholds lated adoptive parents (7,8). Large, well-constructed twin above which an individual is likely to go beyond social studies (8–10) have demonstrated that genetic factors are drinking and slip into abuse or addiction. Is the develop- important in determining vulnerability to alcoholism, par- ment of alcoholism due to a unique set of biochemical and ticularly in the more severe forms of the disease (11). neurobiological determinants or are the causes of addiction Over the past few years, several heritability analyses have common to many substances? Are there preexisting behav- been performed using the population-based Virginia Twin ioral traits that predispose to alcoholism? These are some Registry. A study of 1,030 U.S. Caucasian female twin pairs of the questions addressed by this chapter. demonstrated that whether using narrow, intermediate, or broad definitions, the concordance for alcoholism was con- sistently higher in monozygotic (MZ) than dizygotic (DZ) GENETIC INFLUENCES ON ALCOHOLISM: twin pairs, and the heritability of alcoholism in women is HERITABILITY STUDIES 0.50 to 0.60 (6,9). In a study of 3,516 U.S. male twins, it was found that 0.48to 0.58of the variation in liability Alcoholism is a heterogeneous disease in which the expres- for both alcohol abuse and dependence was attributable to sion of genetic vulnerability is modified by environmental additive genetic factors with the remainder attributable to factors. Some of the environmental influences are uniquely nonshared environmental factors, which is most accurately experienced by the individual (nonshared) and some are labeled as ‘‘other,’’ including as it does other sources of variance such as measurement error (12). The results of these two studies were confirmed in a recent analysis of 5,091 U.S. male twins and 4,168female twins from the Mary-Anne Enoch and David Goldman: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of same registry (13). This study also added the information Health, Bethesda, Maryland. that the genetic sources of variability are partially, but not 1414 Neuropsychopharmacology: The Fifth Generation of Progress completely, overlapping in men and women. Compared recent evaluation of the co-inheritance of alcoholism and with the expected genetic correlations of 0.5 for same-sex other disorders revealed that the inheritance of alcoholism DZ twin pairs, heritability was 0.20 to 0.24 [95% confi- is remarkably distinct. Female twins from the Virginia Twin ,to 45%] for opposite-sex pairs. Registry were evaluated for alcoholism, MD, BN, phobia 4% ס (dence interval (CI Although the heritability value of approximately 0.5 for al- generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and panic. Alcoholism cohol dependence in men and women was replicated in emerged as the one disorder with a large disease-specific an analysis of 2,685 male and female twin pairs from the genetic component: approximately 75% of the genetic vari- Australian twin registry (10), no evidence was found for sex ance. In addition, smaller components of the genetic liabil- differences in sources of genetic influence. It may be that ity to alcoholism also loaded onto a factor common to MD the relatively small number of opposite sex pairs—592—in and GAD as well as a factor common to phobia, panic, and the Heath et al. (10) study compared with the larger num- BN (19). ber—1,428—in the Prescott et al. (13) study limited the power to find a difference. COMORBIDITY OF ALCOHOLISM WITH OTHER SUBSTANCE ABUSE: GENETIC GENETIC HETEROGENEITY IN ALCOHOLISM DIATHESES? Although there is good evidence for substantial heritability Alcohol, cocaine, opiate, and tobacco (nicotine) depen- for alcoholism, individual differences in clinical presenta- dency co-occur more often in the population than would tion suggest variation in origins of vulnerability. Alcoholics be expected from their frequencies (20). This raises the pos- vary in their drinking patterns, the severity of their symp- sibility that there may be substance-general, as well as sub- toms, and in behavioral, physical, and psychiatric sequelae. stance-specific, components to the heritability of alcoholism Vulnerability may reside in personality or psychiatric traits (21). that predispose to alcohol-seeking behavior, differential re- Both alcoholism and drug disorders are familial; two sponse to the effects of alcohol, or differential predisposition large studies have evaluated the familial aggregation of alco- to addiction. Vulnerability factors found in some, but by hol and drug dependence (22,23). Both studies found that no means all, alcoholics include attentional deficits reflected relatives of drug-disorder probands across a wide range of by low amplitude of the P300 event-related potential (14), substances, including opioids, cocaine, and cannabis, had a anxiety reflected by the low-voltage alpha EEG trait (15), greater rate of drug disorders themselves than relatives of and diminished subjective response to alcohol (16). controls. However, this comorbidity occurred largely inde- pendently from cotransmission of alcoholism, suggesting that the transmission of alcoholism and other drug disorders COMORBIDITY OF ALCOHOLISM AND is largely independent. OTHER PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS: GENETIC The strongest evidence of a shared, as well as a specific, DIATHESES? addictive tendency is between alcohol and nicotine. It has long been observed that there is a relationship between Alcohol dependence is often comorbid with other psychiat- smoking and alcoholism. More than 80% of alcoholics ric disorders, including drug abuse, major depression (MD), smoke cigarettes and 70% are heavy smokers, compared anxiety disorders (ADs), and bulimia nervosa (BN), or anti- with 30% of the general population who smoke and 10% social personality disorder (ASPD) (17,18). Lifetime co-oc- who smoke heavily (24). In a multivariate genetic analysis currence is more common among women than men and is of the use of tobacco and alcohol in 774 MZ and 809 DZ positively associated with the persistence of alcohol depen- male and female twin pairs from the Virginia Twin Registry, dence in both men and women (18). Population comorbid- the univariate heritability of alcohol consumption was 0.60 ity, in which two disorders may be observed to co-occur in in men and 0.47 in women, and the heritability of tobacco excess, may be due to shared causation. A strength of genetic use was 0.49 in men and 0.51 in women. Tobacco use had epidemiologic studies is their ability to detect evidence of a stronger loading on this shared genetic factor (0.56 in shared genetic and familial environmental causation. males, 0.49 in females), than alcohol consumption (0.12 in Severe alcoholism, suicidality, and impulsivity tend to males, 0.19 in females) (25). However, the precise level of coexist in the same individuals, usually male. The relative the co-inheritance is less certain than the existence of co- risk of alcoholism is significantly increased in males with inheritance, and the level of genetic sharing may depend either ASPD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or on how the phenotypes are determined. In an analysis of childhood conduct disorder, and there is evidence of co- 2,220 MZ and 2,373 DZ U.S. male twin pairs from the inheritance of ASPD and alcoholism. Alcoholism in women National Academy of Sciences–National Research Coun- is associated with anxiety and affective disorders (18) and cil’s World War II Twin Registry, a heavy smoking, heavy increased neuroticism (10). These data notwithstanding, a alcohol genetic factor accounted for 0.45 of the heritable Chapter 99: Molecular and Cellular Genetics of Alcohol Addiction 1415 variance in heavy drinking and 0.35 of the heritable variance to release of dopamine in the NA (32), but the rewarding in heavy smoking (26), and substance-specific genetic influ- effects are also mediated by the cholinergic and serotoniner- ences contributed 0.22 of the total heritable variance in gic neurotransmitter systems.